Between a Nick and a Hard Place
by Rouch
Summary: An answer to a challenge by Kestin Stewart. Grissom, Sara, and Nick are stuck in a compromising position.


Ok, I don't normally write Humor/Romance stories because I am more proficient with the angst… but Kestin Stewart's challengepeaked my interest with her challenge… here goes…I fear there is more angst then she expected. The conversation in the basement belongs to her, I filled in the details.

Oh and the complicated part…how to keep this "R" or "PG-13"…

**'Stuck Between Nick and a Hard Place'**

Sara walked up to Las Vegas' newest crime scene, and was surprised to see Nick's profile walking out of the front door. He had a small white dog, Sara could only classify as a 'yippy' dog, tucked under his arm. "Nick? Finally found a friend?"

He smiled at her, "You're just jealous I found her first."

"Ha…ha. Not that I'm not glad to see you, but why are you here? I thought this was a night shift case." Sara realized that she actually really missed spending time with Nick.

"Greg is sick, and Grissom asked me to fill in." He explained simply. "He's downstairs examining the DB. I'm going to drop off 'Fluffy' here with an officer and be right down there."

Sara shot him another questioning look. It was unusual that animals were removed from the house.

"She won't stay away from the owner." He answered her unasked question.

Satisfied and in a surprisingly good mood she headed for the basement. She stepped on the wooden stairs and heard them creek loudly.

"Careful!" Grissom called out, and pointed toward one broken stair, "Termites have infested most of the house it appears."

Sara nodded, and glanced down at their DB, "Was there a chemical spill?" She asked appalled at the sight. Every inch of exposed skin had been eaten away. "Termites don't do that do they?"

Grissom looked up at her, shining his flashlight in her direction, "No, termites prefer grainier meals."

Sara watched the light dance on the stairs, and spotted what looked like blood. She placed her kit down to collect it.

Suddenly the entire ceiling began to shake. They stared up and determined the creaks were footsteps. Nick appeared at the doorway and proceeded down the shaky stairs. He slid past Sara but stopped when he noticed his co-workers were motionless, "What's going on?"

Sara hadn't realized she was holding her breath, "Waiting for the house to come down on us." Nick took another step when they heard a loud—

CRACK!

The three CSIs instantly turned to run up the stairs, but before Sara could even take a step they seemed to deteriorate before her eyes. A beam suddenly swung into her view, and her world went black.

* * *

As Grissom came to he tried to remember where he was, and figure out why he couldn't see. He slowly began testing his limbs to make sure nothing was broken, but soon realized he was more or less unhurt, but pinned. His face was press up against something soft. Before he could figure out what was almost suffocating him he heard a groan. 'Sara, and Nick!' His mind screamed.

* * *

Nick opened his eyes. Shooting pains emanating from his right leg brought him the rest of the way to consciousness. He also felt a weight across his chest, but was confused by the absence of pain there, until he realized it was Sara's leg. "Sara?"

He was surprised when the ground beneath him shifted. Nick turned his head only to see another pair of legs sticking out from under him.

"Grissom?" Nick could feel Gil's intake of breath, and listened to the muffled response.

* * *

Grissom could hear Nick with little problem. He moved his head slightly to get a better view of what was in his face. As he moved he inhaled a sweet flowery scent. At that moment it breathed, and then flinched in pain. "Sara?"

* * *

Sara's head felt like it had been stomped on. She tried to take in a breath, but winced at the pain that motion caused. She heard Grissom call her name, but it sounded distant which confused her. They were all in close proximity when the world around them started to crumble. She tried to push herself up but was stopped by a beam that had her trapped. There was a sharp pain just below her shoulder blade, and she stopped moving. She then took note of how soft the ground under her was.

"Nick? Griss?" She found she could only whisper because she was not able to get much air into her lungs.

* * *

He could feel the vibrations of her voice, and Gil soon realized that it was Sara's chest that trapped his face. The more his vision adjusted to the darkness the clearer his view of her cleavage became.

His nightmares and dreams had collided to create a strange reality.

He turned his head away to talk, but all he could think about was Sara's breast, which was now pressed against his cheek.

Business, stick to business, he scolded his body. "Nick, Sara, are you both ok?"

Nick started to tell them his leg hurt, but other then that he felt ok until he began to feel an unusual sensation between his shoulder blades. "Grissom... please tell me that's your side-arm."

Grissom was shocked, he never considered that his reactions would have been felt, and by Nick of all people. His concerns immediately shifted to damage control, damage control to his dignity, "Do not... say... a word." He needed his problem to just disappear.

Nick was trying to process their situation, searching for any explanation for Grissom's… excitement… "I'm kinda freaking out here man."

He wanted to crawl in a hole, and wished he could concentrate long enough to come up with an explanation, "Believe me Nick, it has nothing to do with you."

Sara was becoming more lucid, or so she thought, until she tuned into her colleague's conversation; then she wasn't so sure. "What's wrong?" No answer, so she tried again, "Guys?"

"Nothing is happening Sara, don't worry about it." Now all he needed out of life was for Nick to keep his mouth shut.

"Well I don't know about you but I can feel something happening!" Nick was utterly amused by this point.

"This conversation ends now!" He warned, trying to make Nick understand. He thought, with Nick being a male, he would understand.

Sara was concerned she had a serious head injury. "Grissom? What the hell?" Once again she tried to move, but it was no use. She was trapped by a support beam. She started to use her senses to figure out what she was lying on. Grissom, she realized, and suddenly became concerned that she was hurting him.

Her movements only made matters worse for Grissom, and he felt his member twitch.

Nick was only seeing the humor in the situation, and tried to lighten Grissom's mood, "I am so going to need therapy after this... can't you think of something? Like Ecklie? A turn-off of some kind!"

Subtly was finally jettisoned out the window, and he insanely thought that he needed Sara to know it wasn't Nick lying on him that was turning him on, "Well I'm sorry but it's kind of hard to think when you have a woman's... well, when you're stuck in an enclosed space... and there's... friction..." It was coming out all wrong.

Sara could feel the vibrations of his voice against her chest, and it was only then that she realized where his face was. _'Guess I should have not worn the v-neck shirt'_ she thought to herself, but out loud, "You're not serious... Grissom? No way... this is not happening." She was floored that she was able to get this type of response out of him. She thought, based on his verbal responses that he had no interest in her other then friendship. _'I'll have to pay attention to body language from now on,'_ she thought.

Grissom in no way wanted this to be the way Sara found out how he actually felt about her, and never in his life did he want Nick to know how he _felt_. "Please can everyone just ignore this?"

Nick and Sara answered immediately and in unison, "No!"

Nick was merely finding the situation entertaining; he rarely got the chance to have the upper hand with the normally stoic supervisor.

Sara didn't want Grissom to deny his feelings, but forgot Nick was between them…literally.

"I'm going to die... I will die of embarrassment." Grissom breathed out, all semblance of dignity was gone.

Nick snickered, "I'm a little concerned myself, threat of impalement and all..."

She laughed the best she could despite their situation, "You're exaggerating."

"Exaggerating my ass, that thing is lethal..."

Grissom had grown quiet, not willing to make his embarrassment worse then it already was. Sara and Nick were also quiet, and he thought maybe that was the end of their jokes at his expense.

"What's your estimate?" Sara asked.

"Sara!" He exclaimed.

"I'd say in the higher end of the scale at least..." Nick's laugh made them all move causing Sara to notice the sharp pain beginning.

"That's it!" He growled. "Why haven't we tried to get out of here?" He tried moving again.

Sara's hand suddenly found his, "Gil, stop moving."

All joking was a distant memory for everyone instantly, "Sara, what is it, what's wrong?" Grissom was angry they had wasted so much time making light of his situation if Sara was hurt.

"I'm ok, it's just…there's a beam trapping me here, and I think there was a nail sticking out of it when it fell on me." She honestly hadn't realized the nail had impaled her back until then. She assumed the pain was because of her fall.

Nick assessed his situation, "Okay, I think I can slip out from between you."

Sara considered his suggestion, "Nick are you hurt?"

He grunted as he tried to untangle himself, "I think I broke my leg." He freed himself and saw the light ray from a flashlight buried under some rubble. They soon all heard the distant sound of help trying to unbury them.

Nick tried to find a comfortable angle to examine Sara's back. He saw the nail impaling her just below the left shoulder blade. He had no idea how long the metal was, but realized there was a possibility that it could puncture her lung. He was slightly relieved that it didn't look possible for any of her organs to be damaged. He was concerned by the amount of blood that was pooling around the wound. "God, Sara, why didn't you say something. We were joking around—"

Trying to calm himself, Grissom took a deep breath, eliciting a groan from Sara.

Nick watched as Sara was pushed up into the nail, and lowered again. He sized up the situation, "Alright, Sara, I think it's safe to assume that the nail can be removed, and I'm going to try to move this beam."

"Nick how can you assume that? And what if moving the beam causes the rest of the house to come crashing down?" Grissom was becoming more concerned the quieter Sara got. He preferred the joking at his expense.

Nick moved to get a look at Sara and Grissom's faces. Moving around was causing the pain in his leg to become more intense, but he needed to see them both, and get into a position where he could possibly move the weight that was trapping his friend. "Griss, it's not near any organ, and her moving up and down has not affected her breathing so her lung is not punctured. The blood is pooling slowly, I don't think it's nicked any artery. The longer she's impaled by it, and the more she moves, the more danger she's in." Once he saw the truth of his words sink into the older man, Nick looked at Sara.

Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was taking very shallow breaths.

"Alright, I'm going to lift the beam, and both of you will need to shift to the right." Nick looked at Sara again, "Griss, you're going to need to do most of the moving."

He nodded in concern and prepared to act; Grissom wrapped his arms around Sara's waist. They heard the rescue workers getting closer, giving them all hope.

Nick prepared himself for the pain that his actions were going to cause, "Ok, on the count of three. 3, 2, 1, move." He cried out in pain at the pressure placed on his injured leg, but was relieve to see Grissom clearing Sara to relative safety, away from the beam.

Grissom continued to hold Sara close to him. He had heard her whimpers of pain during the process, and he now took the opportunity to reposition himself so her head was resting on his shoulder. He smoothed hear hair away from her forehead. Her head was bleeding from a gash, and she had tears in her eyes that had not fallen. "Sara, talk to me, are you ok?"

Sara nodded, "Yeah, Nick?"

He was too exhausted to move, "I'm alright Sara."

"Don't believe you." She mumbled.

Grissom continued to hold her close to him until a stream of light pierced the haze. The rescue team had arrived.

"Grissom?" Brass' voice penetrated their temporary tomb.

"Yeah! We're all alive, but Sara and Nick need some medical attention."

Sara watched as the paramedics carefully made their way down through the rubble. They stopped at her, and inspected her back. "Help Nick first, I'm ok." She was honestly enjoying Grissom hold her despite the situation and she was glad he couldn't tell how her body was reacting to their closeness.

* * *

Grissom was able to pull himself out of the rubble, and looked around. Nick was being loaded into one ambulance, and a set of paramedics were treating Sara at another. He walked over to her. She was laying facedown; Grissom knelt down to be eye level with her.

She reached out for his hand, and they both heard her shirt being ripped open. "I didn't like the shirt anyway."

Grissom smiled and look at her exposed back. She had several contusions, and a nasty looking puncture wound. It looked like it was already infected. He looked back in her eyes, "I was a fan…" He cleared his throat. "Of the shirt."

Sara smiled, "Is that what got you so excited? The shirt? I got it at Banana Republic; you can go buy one for yourself."

He saw her grimace as they poked around, and he wanted to keep her mind off the discomfort, "What can I say, I'm a sucker for beauty."

She looked in his eyes, she was so confused. Before she could comment, she was being loaded into the ambulance. "Whoa, whoa, wait, what are you doing?"

"Sara," Grissom warned.

"You need antibiotics, and x-rays." She was informed.

She sighed, "If I wasn't half naked, I'd escape."

Grissom was instantly glad Nick was not lying on top of him at the moment.

* * *

Sara was sitting on the exam table now wearing scrubs waiting to be released.

She heard a knock at the door, and watched as Grissom stuck his head in.

"You here to spring me?" She was hopeful. Her diagnosis wasn't serious, a concussion that needed to be monitored, a cracked rib, and the nail had not caused any serious internal injuries. It only hurt like hell.

He smiled, "Ready whenever you are."

She stiffly attempted to get off the table. He saw this and stepped up, placing a supportive hand under her arm and behind her lower back.

"Thanks. How's Nick?"

"Already at home, all drugged up." He had personally made sure Nick got to his house so he was unable to share their experience with any of their co-workers. Grissom trusted Nick to be tactful at work, but being hopped up on drugs was a variable Gil was not willing to mess around with.

She signed the last of her release papers and accepted her prescriptions. She refused to sit in a wheel chair, and masterfully convinced the nurse to make an exception because of her back. She waited between the double doors for Grissom to pull the Tahoe up, and he helped her into the vehicle.

"Greg solved our case," he explained to her as he watched her from the corner of his eye. She shifted uncomfortably.

Sara was shocked, "The DB survived?"

He nodded, "It looks like a stair gave way on him, and he died due to the impact of his head with the basement floor."

She shook her head, "That doesn't explain what happened to his body. That wasn't decomposition."

"Yeah, that's where this gets disturbing. Mr. Jones had taken the week off to work on his house—the termite damage—so no one knew he was missing… and no one fed the dog."

"Fluffy? Fluffy ate her owner?" She would never own a dog again. The remainder of the drive to her apartment was filled with small talk that avoided the topic they each needed to discuss.

* * *

They walked through her door, and Gil lead Sara to the bedroom. "I'll go get you some water so you can take your pills."

She merely nodded and laid face down on her bed. She had a pretty good idea what would happen over the next several days. Grissom would treat her like glass, avoid any topic having to do with a relationship, followed by over compensated avoidance of her all together. Until eventually she would even doubt the words exchanged in the basement happened. She stretched her shoulders slightly. At least she would have the scar to remind her it had happened.

"Sara," he interrupted her thoughts with pills and water in hand, she was too tired to move. She awkwardly took the pills, spilling water because of her odd angle. He gently wiped the drops from her chin, but his fingered lingered.

She stared into his intense gaze, "Gil—"

"Shhh," he silenced her by placing two fingers on her lips. He moved closer to her, and gently kissed her. He moved back slightly to look for her permission. She inched forward, and that was enough for him. He took her in one of the most passionate kisses she had ever experienced. A tingle started in her stomach and moved throughout her whole body.

He broke away, they were both breathless. Her hand cupped his face, and she looked down, "You like this shirt too huh?"

He nodded, "You're beautiful." He stood, and she was instantly afraid he was about to leave. Instead he sat on the bed, and then lay down next to her.

Sara allowed him to position her gently in his arms, and she started drifting off to sleep. She tried to fight it because she wanted to remember how it felt.

"Sara, go to sleep, I'm not running from this tomorrow." He squeezed her gently, "I like your shirt too much."

The End


End file.
